”I feel sorry for the baseballs”
The Yankees opened their series in Texas in historic fashion, as the offense went bonkers and put on an insane power-hitting show in a 10-5 win over the Rangers.

The final tally was five homers and five doubles, and when combined with the offensive explosions from their previous two games in Kansas City, produced these staggering stats:

First time in franchise history that they hit at least four homers in three straight games.

First team since the 1963 Twins with four or more home runs in three straight road games, and the first team since the 1961 Braves to do that on the same road trip. Those two teams, by the way, featured three of the top-25 home run hitters of all-time: Hall-of-Famers Harmon Killebrew (Twins), Eddie Mathews (Braves) and Hank Aaron (Braves).

First time in franchise history that the Yankees recorded at least eight extra-base hits in three straight games.

Only three other teams have done that in baseball history: 1935 Senators, 1999 Indians, 2003 Red Sox. And the best thing we can say about those three clubs is … I’ll just leave you with this clip:

And finally, putting it all together for our Obscure Yankeemetric of the Series: Yankees are the first team in MLB history (or at least since 1908) with at least eight extra-base hits, including four homers, in back-to-back-back games.

Gleyber Torres kicked off the dinger party with a 418-foot blast to left-center field, but he was just getting warmed up at that point, as he went deep (425 feet deep, to be exact) again in the sixth for his first career multi-homer game.

He became the second-youngest (21 years, 159 days) Yankee ever to hit two or more homers in a game, sandwiched between two hackers named Mickey Mantle (20 years, 296 days on August 11, 1952) and Joe DiMaggio (21 years, 212 days on June 24, 1936). And he’s also the third-youngest second baseman with a multi-homer game, trailing Harmon Killebrew (1956) and Bobby Doerr (1939).

Aaron Hicks capped off the homer parade with a two-run shot in the ninth inning. Combined with their five-homer outburst on Saturday in Kansas City, it was their second five-homer game in three days. That last time they pulled off that feat on the road was June 28, 1939 in both games of a doubleheader at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park against the A’s.

(AP)

Doomed by Domingo
For the second night in a row the Yankees were handicapped by a mediocre starting pitching performance, but on Tuesday they couldn’t match Monday’s record-breaking offensive fireworks, and suffered a 6-4 loss to the Rangers.

The hole that Domingo German dug was simply too deep even for this peak 2018 version of the Bronx Bombers, as he allowed six runs before getting pulled in the fourth inning. The wheels came off for him in the second frame, during which the Rangers lead swelled from 3-0 to 5-0 without getting a hit, thanks to three wild pitches, two walks and a plunking. German is first Yankee starter to have three wild pitches in an inning since Roger Clemens on September 8, 2002 against the Tigers.

His final line is something you probably couldn’t even re-create in a video game: 3 2/3 innings, six runs, three walks, four hits, three wild pitches, two homers, hit batter. It also forced us to give out a second Obscure Yankeemetric of the Series.

German is the first Yankee pitcher ever to throw three wild pitches and allow two homers while facing no more than 20 batters in a game. And when you add in the six earned runs he coughed up … only one other pitcher in MLB history has managed to do all that in outing of 20 or fewer batters faced: Senators righty Jim Duckworth against the Twins on August 29, 1963. Duckworth (-3.4 career WAR in 267 innings) is probably not a guy you want to be mentioned in the same sentence as.

(Getty)

The offense did try to rally, spearheaded by a third-inning home run off the bat of Gleyber Torres. At 399 feet, it was somehow the shortest of the seven homers he’d hit in his career through Tuesday. Following his two-homer spectacle on Monday, it still produced another batch of #GleyberGood fun facts.

He was the youngest Yankee to homer in back-to-back games since a 20-year-old Mickey Mantle in July 1952. Even more impressive, at 21 years and 160 days old, he was the youngest player in franchise history with at least three homers in a two-game span, and also the youngest in MLB history to do that as a second baseman.

(USA Today)

#TooManyHomers
It was deja vu all over again for the Yankees, who for the second straight night suffered from an awful starting pitching performance and lost a slugfest to the Rangers, 12-10. This loss, however, was far more painful, as the Yankees blew 4-0 and 10-5 leads and were on the verge of winning their ninth series in a row.

It was the first time in a decade they suffered such a heart-breaking loss, in which they coughed up multiple leads of at least four runs in the same game. The last time it happened was a 10-9 loss on May 27, 2008 against the Orioles.

Didi Gregorius put the Yankees up early with a two-run blast off Rangers southpaw Doug Fister in the opening frame. It was his first homer since April 27, snapping a 75 at-bat homerless streak. That should have been a good omen for this Yankees team, which, prior to Wednesday’s game, led the majors with a 24-3 record when scoring first.

But CC Sabathia couldn’t hold the 4-0 lead, coughing up five runs in the bottom of the fourth, with four of those runs scored via homers by lefties Ronald Guzman and Nomar Mazara. It was just the second time in his career that two lefty batters went deep against Sabathia in the same inning — Johnny Damon and Casey Kotchman homered in the third inning of a 5-1 win by the Rays on August 12, 2011.

The Yankees rallied from that mini-implosion, erupting for six runs in the fifth, and the big blow was a three-run homer by Gleyber Torres. Onto the bullet-point recap for the scorching-hot rookie! At 21 years and 161 days old, he is the ….

Youngest Yankee ever to homer in back-to-back-to-back games.

Youngest in MLB to pull off the feat since a 20-year-old Giancarlo (Mike) Stanton for the Marlins in September 2010.

Third-youngest AL player to go deep in three consecutive games; only guys younger than Torres were Babe Ruth in 1916 (21 years, 128 days) and Ted Williams in 1939 (21 years, 0 days).

It was also the Yankees’ third homer of the night, as they established a new franchise record with their fifth straight game hitting at least three home runs. Incredibly, all five games have been away from the Bronx. They are just the fourth team in MLB history to hit three or more homers in five straight road games, joining the 2017 Cardinals, 1996 A’s and 1996 Orioles.

(AP)

The home run derby continued a couple batters later when Aaron Judge destroyed a 92-mph fastball, sending it 471 feet and way over the center-field wall for the third-longest homer of his career. He is the only MLB player with three homers of at least 470 feet since the start of last season.

And that gave the Yankees 21 homers in their last five games, matching the Major-League record for the most homers in a five-game span, set by the 1977 Red Sox and 1999 Reds (Aaron Boone had three homers during that streak!).

Alas, all those homers were for naught as the Yankees still lost despite putting up double-digit runs and hitting a quartet of longballs. Howevahhhhhhh …

If you need something to feel good about, and you’re into weird coincidences, there’s this stat: The last time the Yankees lost a game in which they scored at least 10 runs and hit at least four homers was a 12-10 loss to the Rangers in Texas on August 23, 1998. That season turned out okay, right?

The Yankees have an off-day today, then tomorrow they’ll begin one of their more grueling stretches of the season. Fourteen games in 13 days thanks to a makeup doubleheader in Detroit. They aced their last grueling stretch, those 18 games in 18 days against really good teams. I look forward to watching them ace this stretch as well. Let’s get to some thoughts on the current state of Yankees’ affairs.

1. Obvious statement is obvious: David Robertson has been struggling lately so Aaron Boone should keep him away from high-leverage spots for a bit. I’m not worried he is permanently broken at all. This hasn’t been a season-long thing — Robertson went 16.2 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 23 K in the 16 appearances following the Justin Smoak grand slam in the opening series — it’s only been the last few outings. He looks a little out of sync with his delivery — he seems to be cutting himself off and finishing more upright rather than having that usual big follow through for whatever reason — and it’s causing him to lose location. Maybe he got old quick and is at the end of the line. It could happen! I don’t think we’re anywhere close to saying that yet. We went through What’s Wrong With Mariano Week™ twice a year (usually in April and August) every year like clockwork. Sometimes good pitchers string together a few bad games. Shrugs. Let Dellin Betances and Chad Green handle the important late-inning situations for a bit while Robertson sorts things out. Betances worked low-leverage spots earlier this year until he figured things out. Now it’s Robertson’s turn. All part of the long 162-game season.

2. The Jacoby Ellsbury situation is starting to get comical. He hurt his oblique in Spring Training and, well, whatever. It happens. Then he hurt his hip while doing his rehab work for the oblique. Then he came down with plantar fasciitis. Then he missed time with an illness. Now his back is acting up. Good grief. The Yankees don’t have a roster spot for Ellsbury right now, so it’s not like they miss him, but still. It’s absurd how there’s one injury after another. I’m not a conspiracy theorist and I don’t think the Yankees and/or Ellsbury are making up injuries to keep him on the disabled list. First of all, if they have insurance on his contract and are recouping salary, it would be insurance fraud. Secondly, healthy players are better than injured players. The Yankees don’t have much center field depth and one injury will have them wishing Ellsbury was healthy and available. Remember when Jace Peterson and Shane Robinson were playing left field? Things can go south quick. For now, the Yankees don’t miss Ellsbury. The outfield is good and there’s no room for him on the roster. Will he ever get healthy? Eventually, maybe. But right now the second highest paid position player on the roster has been a total non-factor, and the Yankees don’t miss him one bit.

3. I wrote the other day about the bottom of the lineup and how it’s helped the Yankees have the highest scoring offense in baseball. By a lot, too. They’re at 5.91 runs per game. The Red Sox are second at 5.33 runs per game. The Yankees have some incredible hitters in their lineup and yet the lineup is not top heavy. Take the Red Sox, for example. They have a very good offense and both Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez are playing out of their mind. The rest of the lineup? Meh. Here, look at some numbers heading into yesterday’s games:

I’m not trying to knock the Red Sox here. They’re really good and I expect the AL East race to be neck-and-neck all season. I’m just trying to show the depth of the Yankees’ lineup. Their best hitters have been great and their other hitters have been really good too. It’s awesome, not having to rely on that one guy or those two guys to carry the offense. The Yankees can let Giancarlo Stanton work through his slow start, they can let Didi Gregorius work through his May slump, and they still have more than enough offense to keep winning. It’s not often the offense fires on all cylinders. There’s always one or two guys slumping. The Yankees are better able to deal with those inevitable slumps than just about any other team because the lineup is so deep.

4. Did Clint Frazier change his batting stance at all? I thought so during his one game with the Yankees over the weekend, so I went back and pulled up some video. I apologize in advance for the GIFs. His playing time is limited and there isn’t much video available:

The GIF doesn’t capture it well, but it seemed Frazier had a little more waggle in his bat this year, and it looks like he’s getting his front leg up just a hair earlier. I’m not sure whether that is significant in any way, or is just a random occurrence on the pitches I arbitrarily chose to GIF. While with Triple-A Scranton a few weeks ago, Frazier told reporters he’s been working to fine tune his hitting mechanics, specifically making sure his hands and leg kick are in sync. For whatever reason I thought Frazier had more going on with his swing the other day in Kansas City than he did last year, but based on the GIF, I guess not. Either way, Frazier has been crushing the ball in Triple-A since returning from the disabled list. I wish the Yankees had a way to get him into the lineup without someone else getting hurt.

5. I’ve seen the Mariners speculated as a potential trade partner given their roster needs. I don’t see it. Yeah, Neil Walker makes sense for them given Robinson Cano’s suspension and Dee Gordon’s toe injury, but I am pro-keeping Walker. He’s a really good part-time player and I want him as a depth player. An outfielder like Billy McKinney could be a fit for Seattle too, I suppose. I just have no idea what the Mariners can offer the Yankees. They’re in the Wild Card race. They’re not trading James Paxton. Even if they fall out of it, I think they’re more likely to gear up for another run next year rather than tear it down. Cano’s not going anywhere, Felix Hernandez is not going anywhere, Kyle Seager isn’t going anywhere. Add some pieces and make another run next year and try to end the postseason drought. The Mariners have no pitching at all. Wade LeBlanc is in their rotation at the moment. For real. I’m not eager to unload Walker or McKinney (or Tyler Wade). The Yankees have players the Mariners could use. Aside from Paxton, who I have no reason to believe is actually available, the Mariners have nothing worthwhile to offer the Yankees. Things can change in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, for sure. Right now, I don’t see a match between these two clubs.

6. It’s May 24th and MLB has not yet released the All-Star ballot. That’s weird. Last year the ballot was released on May 2nd. The year before it was released April 24th! The ballot is usually released super early and we all make fun of it for coming out so early. It hasn’t been released yet this year for whatever reason. This is something we’ll explore again in a few weeks, but right now, I think the Yankees are on track to have four All-Stars: Judge, Aroldis Chapman, Luis Severino, and Gary Sanchez. Gregorius played himself out of an All-Star Game spot with his slump this month — Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, and Andrelton Simmons have been so good too, it’d be tough to beat them out — and Stanton’s slow start might cost him a spot too. He’s been really good this month though and could still play his way into an All-Star Game berth. We’ll see. For now Severino, Judge, Chapman, and Sanchez — Gary is so far and away the best catcher in the AL it’s not even funny — are the obvious All-Stars to me. Maybe Torres will get a spot too. That’d be cool. Cody Bellinger came up a few weeks into the season and made the All-Star Game last year. It’s not impossible to come up in late April and make it. Gleyber in the All-Star Game would be a hell of a thing.

That’s a new Worst Loss of the Season™. The Yankees could not out-hit their own pitchers Wednesday night in the series finale against the last place Rangers. The final score was 12-10 bad guys. The Yankees have lost a series for the first time since going to Fenway Park six weeks ago. I guess things could be worse.

(Richard Rodriguez/Getty)

An Early Three-Run Lead
After getting shut down by Cole Hamels on Tuesday night, it was good to see the Yankees come out and put some runs on the board against Doug Fister in the very first inning. Brett Gardner popped up on the first pitch of the game and the Yankees still sent nine men to the plate and forced Fister to throw 33 pitches in that first inning. It was pretty great.

The Rangers certainly gave the Yankees some help in the three-run first inning. Aaron Judge reached with one out when first baseman Ronald Guzman couldn’t make the scoop on a short-hopped throw from Jurickson Profar, then Fister left a changeup up to Didi Gregorius, and he clubbed it out to right field for a quick 2-0 lead. To the action footage:

?

Going into the at-bat Gregorius had been in a miserable 3-for-54 (.056) slump, and he hadn’t hit a home run since the extra innings game-winner in Anaheim a few weeks ago. That’s a three-game hitting streak for Didi! He had the opposite field double Monday night, a ground ball single pulled to right Tuesday, and a dinger to right Wednesday. We’re starting to see some signs of life, thankfully.

The Yankees created another run in that first inning while hitting just one ball out of the infield. Giancarlo Stanton reached on an infield single, Aaron Hicks poked a single to right, and Miguel Andujar reached on an infield single as well. The two infield singles sure looked like makeable plays to me, but neither was made. The three singles loaded the bases, and the dangerous Austin Romine brought a run home with a bases-loaded walk. He’s hitting .340/.415/.553 (165 wRC+). How about that?

(Richard Rodriguez/Getty)

A Blown Lead
Things unraveled quickly for CC Sabathia. After three no-hit innings to start the game, the Rangers tagged him for five runs in the fourth, which turned the 4-0 lead — Neil Walker socked a solo dinger in the fourth — into a 5-4 deficit. Walks and dingers, man. Walks and dingers. Shin-Soo Choo singled to center and Nomar Mazara golfed a two-run homer to right. Yuck. Sabathia hung a slider and a bad thing happened. Not the end of the world.

From there, it only got worse. Sabathia walked Profar (blah) and Ryan Rua (BLAH), and he got what he deserved for that when Guzman smacked a go-ahead three-run home run literally off the top of the right field wall. Similar to the Mazara homer, it was a slider that stayed up a little too much. Sabathia allowing two home runs to lefties in one inning is notable. He allowed two homers to lefties all last season. He averaged 2.5 homers to lefties a year from 2014-17. Then Mazara and Guzman got him in the fourth. Go figure.

The Rangers pushed across another two runs in the fifth inning, this time without the benefit of a homer. Choo hit a leadoff single and scored on Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s quote-unquote triple. It was a soft little liner to right that both took a weird hop and was misplayed by Judge, and rolled to the wall. An infield single followed — Sabathia reached up and deflected a chopper, slowing it down enough that Gregorius didn’t have a play — to score another run, the seventh for Texas.

Sabathia’s final pitching line: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 2 HR on 91 pitches. Jonathan Holder was able to strand the runner at third in the fifth to spare Sabathia an eighth run. In his last three starts now Sabathia has allowed 15 runs and 26 baserunners in 13.1 innings, which is: Bad. He had a four-start disaster stretch around this time last year (22 runs in 20.2 innings) and hopefully this is just another one of those, and he snaps out of it soon.

(Richard Rodriguez/Getty)

Take The Lead, Again
It didn’t take the Yankees long to answer back after Mazara and Guzman gave the Rangers the lead in the fourth. They answered with a five spot in the top of the fifth. Walker singled with one out, Andujar doubled down the line, then Romine stroked a run-scoring single. Just like that, the game was tied and the Yankees were set up with two on and one out.

Because he hasn’t done enough lately, Gleyber Torres hit yet another home run, this one a three-run shot to give the Yankees the lead. Third straight game with a homer and his fifth homer in the last five games. Look at this pitch:

Yeah, that pitch was only 88 mph, but it was a sinker running back in, and Gleyber was still able to pull his hands in and muscle that out to left field. In an 0-2 count too. The kid is so good. So, so good. Gardner doubled and Judge hit a 471-foot homer after that, stretching the lead to 10-5. Even though it was only the fifth inning, that should’ve been enough. Should’ve. It wasn’t.

A Blown Lead, Again
Blowing a four-run lead and a five-run lead in the same game is about as terrible as it gets. Sabathia coughed up two runs in the fifth to get the Rangers to within 10-7. The sixth inning was the coup de grâce. Aaron Boone went to Chasen Shreve to match up against the lefty and he of course allowed a leadoff single to the lefty. A one-out single to Delino DeShields Jr. followed two batters later to put men on first and second.

At that point Boone went to David Robertson which, under normal circumstances, would be a fine move. Robertson’s someone you can count on to wiggle out of jams. Not so much recently though. His season to date can be split into three distinct periods:

First two games: 2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

Next 16 games: 16.2 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 23 K

Last four games: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 4 K

That last set of games includes Wednesday night’s meltdown. He inherited runners on first and second from Shreve and walked Choo to load the bases. Choo walks a lot. It what he does. The more egregious mistake was walking the light-hitting Kiner-Falefa to force in a run. That was real bad. That cut the lead to 10-8. Six pitches later, Robertson threw this 92 mph meatball …

… to Profar, who split the right-center field gap and cleared the bases. The 10-8 lead became an 11-10 deficit. It’s easy to second guess the decision to go to Shreve — I guess the alternative was leaving Holder in, or going to Robertson to start the inning — but ultimately it’s on the players. Four-run lead and a five-run lead, and neither holds? It’s on the pitchers. Brutal start for Sabathia, bad work by Shreve, and a disaster by Robertson.

Leftovers
Because blowing those two leads wasn’t annoying enough, the Yankees went pretty quietly against the crummy Rangers bullpen. Stanton was hit by a pitch with one out in the eighth and that was the team’s only baserunner after Texas took the lead. Fourteen of the final 16 Yankees to bat after the Judge homer made outs. No Fighting Spirit this time, at least not in the late innings.

Dellin Betances worked two innings and allowed a dopey insurance run in the second inning. A strikeout/wild pitch put a runner on first, then two steals and a single later plated the run. Dellin mowed down the three batters he faced in the seventh though. He’s been really good lately. With Robertson struggling, Betances should be the Eighth Inning Guy™ until further notice.

Every starter had a hit and five of the nine starters had multiple hits. The offense did its job. Ten runs on 14 hits (seven for extra-bases) and one walk? And they went 4-for-11 (.364) with runners in scoring position? Can’t complain about the bats at all. Everyone up and down the lineup was really good.

Up Next
The road trip is over and the Yankees are heading back to New York for a six-game homestand. But first, an off-day. The Yankees will rest Thursday before beginning a 14 games in 13 days stretch. They have that makeup doubleheader in Detroit coming up soon. Anyway, the homestand begins Friday night with the first of three against the Angels. Luis Severino will be on the mound for that one. The Halos haven’t announced their rotation yet, but lefty Andrew Heaney lines up to pitch that day.

LHP Justus Sheffield: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 3/2 GB/FB — 43 of 70 pitches were strikes (61%) … first start since May 11th due to the shoulder injury … I assume he was on a pitch limit after the injury, hence the short start despite no runs allowed

RHP Tommy Kahnle: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 2/1 GB/FB – 16 of 21 pitches were strikes (76%) … second rehab appearance and he came out of the bullpen rather than make the start, which means they’re getting him ready for his usual role … Aaron Boone has indicated Kahnle could be back Friday as long as things go well in these rehab games, so we’ll see

The eight-game turned six-and-a-half game road trip ends tonight with the series finale against the Rangers. A win tonight clinches a ninth straight series victory for the Yankees. They haven’t done that since 1998. A loss clinches their first series loss since dropping two of three at Fenway Park in early April. Been a while!

CC Sabathia is on the mound tonight and his last two starts haven’t gone well, though, to be fair, a brutal Gleyber Torres error really hurt Sabathia’s pitching line last time out. Would be nice to see the big man rebound and put together a strong start to close out the road trip. The pitching hasn’t been so hot the last few days. Here are the lineups:

Sunny and hot in Arlington today. Good night for a ballgame. Tonight’s series finale will begin at 7:05pm ET, and you can watch on YES locally and MLB Network out of market. Enjoy the game.

Injury Update: Gary Sanchez (calf) is being held out of the lineup as a precaution more than anything. He left last night’s game with a cramp and is available today. I figured they’d sit him today with the off-day tomorrow. Gives him back-to-backs away from catching to knock this thing out.

Roster Move: Gio Gallegos has been sent to Triple-A Scranton and lefty Ryan Bollinger was called up from Double-A Trenton to be the long man, the Yankees announced. They signed Bollinger as a free agent over the winter. He’ll be making his MLB debut. Bollinger has been bouncing around independent leagues the last few years and most recently pitched in Germany. Pretty cool that he reached the show, even as an emergency arm. (The Yankees had an open 40-man roster spot after dumping David Hale last week. No other move was required for Bollinger.)

The first base position has not been a total disaster during Bird’s absence. Neil Walker has been really good this month while Tyler Austin has crushed lefties all season. Even after going 0-for-Hamels last night, Austin is hitting .293/.362/.634 (163 wRC+) against southpaws this year. He has been an objectively great platoon bat.

“Tyler’s put himself in a very good position,” said Aaron Boone to Erik Boland yesterday when asked whether there is room for both Austin and Bird on the roster. “He’s having a lot of success, having a big hand in us winning games. I definitely see a role, potentially, for both of them.”

Moving forward with a Bird/Austin platoon at first base sounds simple enough, though roster spots are a finite resource, and the Yankees may not be able to carry two first base only guys. And, as good as he’s been, sending Austin to Triple-A when Bird returns is the most logical move, for three reasons.

1. The Yankees aren’t scheduled to face many lefties. Pitching plans can always change, but right now, the Yankees are scheduled to face two lefties over their next 15 games. They’ll see Andrew Heaney this weekend and Dallas Keuchel next week, and then it’s a long run of right-handed pitchers. Again, pitching plans are tentative, but that’s how things are set up at the moment.

As good as Austin has been overall this season, he should not be in the lineup against right-handed pitchers. And especially not over Bird. Austin’s platoon splits are ridiculous:

vs. RHP: .200/.250/.467 (89 wRC+) with 4.7 BB% and 43.8 K%

vs. LHP: .293/.362/.634 (163 wRC+) with 8.5 BB% and 27.7 K%

Austin shouldn’t be in the lineup against righties. Not over Bird. And, with so many right-handed pitchers coming up, Austin is going to be glued to the bench. Yeah, I suppose he could be a pinch-hitter option against a lefty reliever, though those opportunities may be few and far between. Simply put, it doesn’t appear there will be many at-bats for Austin in the near future.

2. The Yankees are going to carry an eighth reliever. Like it or not. I don’t like it, but there’s nothing I can do about it. The Yankees will start a 14 games in 13 days stretch Friday — hey have the makeup doubleheader in Detroit coming up — and I would bet heavily on the Yankees carrying an eighth reliever during that stretch. They like having the eighth reliever. It’s been made clear.

Who will that eighth reliever be? It might be Jonathan Holder once Tommy Kahnle and Adam Warren return. The identity of the eighth reliever is irrelevant. As long as the eighth reliever is on the roster, there are only three players on the bench. Austin Romine and Ronald Torreyes will be two of them. The more versatile Neil Walker makes more sense for the final bench spot than another first baseman. Walker in MLB and Austin in Triple-A is better than Austin in MLB and Walker out of the organization.

3. The sooner he goes down, the sooner he can come back. By rule, players sent to the minors have to stay there at least ten days before being called back up, unless they’re replacing a player placed on the disabled list. So, the sooner the Yankees send Austin down, the sooner the clock starts and the sooner they’ll be able to bring him back as a platoon option should they run into a bunch of left-handers or something like that. Odds are Austin’s assignment to Triple-A would only be temporary.

* * *

It boils down to this: The Yankees have too many good players. It sounds silly and it is, but it’s absoluty true. Clint Frazier and Brandon Drury should be in the big leagues. So should Adam Lind. Holder has looked pretty good lately and deserves to stay in the big leagues, but might get pushed down when Kahnle and Warren return. The Yankees have an incredible amount of depth right now.

Austin doesn’t deserve to be demoted. He’s performed about as well as anyone could’ve possibly hoped so far this season. Given the roster though, carrying another full-time first baseman doesn’t make sense once Bird returns. The Yankees are going to carry an eighth reliever, which leaves them sort a bench player, and there aren’t many left-handed pitchers on the upcoming schedule. A righty platoon first baseman isn’t the best use of a roster spot.

These roster logjams always have a way of working themselves out. Bird has had plenty of trouble staying on the field lately — Austin himself as an injury history too — and it is entirely possible an injury elsewhere on the roster will create an opening. Given the current roster, it’s hard to see how both Bird and Austin fit, even with Boone saying there is potentially a role for both of them.

The baseball gods will probably smite the Yankees for this, but at the moment, the Yankees have too many Major League caliber players. They can’t fit them all on the 25-man big league roster. Brandon Drury is in Triple-A, and, when Greg Bird returns in the coming days, Tyler Austin may have to go to Scranton too. Tommy Kahnle’s and Adam Warren’s return could push Jonathan Holder to Triple-A. It’s a good “problem” to have, too many good players.

Among the others sitting in Triple-A is outfielder Clint Frazier, who spent a few days with the Yankees last week, and was sent down after going 1-for-2 with a double and two walks in his only big league game. Since returning from his concussion, the 23-year-old Frazier is hitting .339/.393/.679 (202 wRC+) in 14 games with the RailRiders. He went deep on the very first pitch he saw after being sent down the other day.

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“We’ll always strike that balance depending on our roster,” said Aaron Boone to Randy Miller after Frazier was sent down. “I think he is a guy that needs to be playing everyday, but if there’s enough of a regular at-bat presence here for him, then that’s something that we’ll always consider considering where we are as a club right now and the value we know that he can bring.”

I agree, Frazier should be playing everyday right now. He missed all that time with the concussion — not to mention missing time with an oblique injury last year — and he needs to get at-bats. Those at-bats aren’t available in the big leagues right now, so Triple-A is the best spot for him. Probably half the teams in league wish they had a spare Clint Frazier lying around, able to be plugged right into the MLB roster. The Yankees just don’t have the room right now.

We know the Yankees were willing to trade Frazier over the winter. He was reportedly the centerpiece of their Gerrit Cole trade offer, and chances are the same was true with Michael Fulmer and Chris Archer as well. Given their roster construction, it only makes sense to make Frazier available. Among the players the Yankees are actually willing to trade (i.e. not Gleyber Torres), he is the team’s best trade chip, especially now that Justus Sheffield is on the Triple-A disabled list.

The Yankees are going to be tied to various starting pitchers in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline — and understandably so, with Masahiro Tanaka and Sonny Gray rocking 5-ish ERAs and Jordan Montgomery hurt — and, chances are, Frazier will again be at the center of trade talks. He is young and essentially still a top prospect — Frazier is a handful of at-bats over the rookie limit and was a consensus top 40 prospect going into last season — and that makes him quite valuable.

Given their roster and the fact they are bona fide World Series contenders, the Yankees are smart to look for pitching and they’re smart to make Frazier available. It’s not unreasonable. There is a case to be made for keeping Frazier, however, and instead building a trade package around other prospects. Consider the big league outfield situation:

Aaron Judge & Giancarlo Stanton: Awesome and not going anywhere for a while. Hooray for that.

Aaron Hicks: Is he actually good? I think so, but I feel like we’re still waiting for a definitive answer. Besides, Hicks will be a free agent after next season anyway.

Brett Gardner: Love the guy, but it’s May 23rd and he’s slugging .299. The .354 OBP is good, but with his 35th birthday not far away, Gardner might be approaching the end of the line. This is the final guaranteed year on his contract too.

Jacoby Ellsbury: Not sure he actually exists at this point. He is signed for another two years though, incredibly.

Billy McKinney is a nice prospect but not someone you build around. Estevan Florial is too far away to plan around. Aside from Judge and Stanton — and, of course, Stanton has been the designated hitter more often than not this year — the outfield situation is a little up in the air going forward. And Frazier, as a highly regarded young outfielder, can help solidify things. More than solidify, really. He can help the outfield continue to be a strength.

Maybe I’m just getting greedy given all the recent success of the farm system. Gary Sanchez came up in 2016 and was awesome. Judge got a full-time spot last year and was awesome. Torres came up this year and has been awesome. We’re all wondering who’s next, and it could be Frazier! He spends this season on the shuttle, then takes over a full-time outfield spot next year, and is the next awesome Baby Bomber. Perfect.

That said, the Yankees are done rebuilding transitioning, and they’re ready to win the World Series this year. Putting the team in the best position to win has to be the priority, and the 2018 Yankees could use another starter, and Frazier is the team’s best trade chip. Besides, finding decent corner outfielders isn’t difficult. There’s always a bunch of those dudes in free agency each winter. And occasionally a Bryce Harper too.

Frazier is over the concussion and he’s doing well in Triple-A right now, and, in his lone big league game, he made a good impression. He did what he had to do, and that’s make it tough for the Yankees to send him down. As talented and promising as Frazier is, the Yankees can’t make him off-limits in trade talks, but gosh, keeping him and adding another young bat to the lineup in the near future sure sounds appealing too.